China's party paper falls for Onion joke about Kim

In this July 25, 2012 file photo released by the Korean Central News Agency and distributed in Tokyo by the Korea News Service, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, accompanied by his wife Ri Sol Ju, waves to the crowd as they inspect the Rungna People's Pleasure Ground in Pyongyang, North Korea. The online version of China's Communist Party newspaper has hailed a report by The Onion naming Kim as the "Sexiest Man Alive" - not realizing it is satire. The People's Daily on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012 ran

BEIJING -- The online version of China's Communist Party
newspaper has hailed a report by The Onion naming North Korean dictator
Kim Jong Un as the "Sexiest Man Alive" - not realizing it is satire.

The
People's Daily on Tuesday ran a 55-page photo spread on its website in a
tribute to the round-faced leader, under the headline "North Korea's
top leader named The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive for 2012."

"Blessed with an air of power that masks an unmistakable
cute, cuddly side, Kim made this newspaper's editorial board swoon with
his impeccable fashion sense, chic short hairstyle, and, of course, that
famous smile," the People's Daily cited The Onion as saying.

The
photos the People's Daily selected include Kim on horseback squinting
into the light and Kim waving toward a military parade. In other photos,
he is wearing sunglasses and smiling, or touring a facility with his
wife.

People's Daily could not immediately be reached for comment.
A man who answered the phone at the newspaper's duty office said he did
not know anything about the report and requested queries be directed to
their newsroom on Wednesday morning.

It is not the first time a state-run Chinese newspaper has fallen for a fictional report by The Onion.

In
2002, the Beijing Evening News, one of the capital city's biggest
tabloids at the time, published as news the fictional account that the
U.S. Congress wanted a new building and that it might leave Washington.
The Onion article was a deadpan spoof of the way sports teams threaten
to leave cities in order to get new stadiums.